Will you still need me?

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

It's my birthday as I stand here typing this column. I'm 52. Hard to believe, I know, but I'm really immature. For example, I've worn a paper crown all day.

I've mentioned in the past that I'm not a huge fan of Facebook. I do it, but I look at it as a necessary evil, and once or twice a year, I go in and delete all my previous posts. I know it's more of a moral than a true victory as everything has already been databased in some NSA basement server.

But you got to hand it to whoever came up with the birthday notifications. I changed my birth birthday to my adoptive birthday, Dec. 25, for reasons far too complex to explain, but the Facebook knows. One or two real friends knew today was the birth birthday, and the news spread like herpes across the internet. I have gotten almost nothing accomplished today because of the damned thing. Even my wife from 25 some years ago got in on the Facebook act.

But, you know, once the concentration is broken for guys like me, it's all over, so the next thing I knew, I was cruising Amazon for the latest MP3s. I ended up buying the new Drive-By Truckers, and my whole failing day had a great soundtrack. I wasn't familiar with this band, but I like it a lot. It's sort of like Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, the Rolling Stones, the Georgia Satellites, Neil Young from his International Harvesters days. I don't know, when you reach a certain age and people ask you what something sounds like, the list is often too long to be very meaningful.

Except for the family stuff, the best gifts I got were some documents from Mary Kandaras of the district attorney's office and Lani McKinley of the Carson City Sheriff's office. I'll explain later, but you know me, I'm an unabashed geek, and I love me some data.

And now it's 4:13 in the afternoon. I've promised to get some photos uploaded before the weekend starts, so I have to leave a bit early. I do have a policy not to drink during the semester breaks, but the only thing I'm supposed to do tomorrow is be on a radio show in Lafayette, Louisiana.